The Chair of the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe wrote to the Venice Commission on 15 March 2016, requesting its opinion on the compatibility of the legal framework governing curfews in Turkey with European standards.

A rapporteur group consisting of Mr J. Correia, Mr G. Jeribi, Ms H. Suchocka and Mr J. Velaers was set up to prepare this opinion. A delegation from the Venice Commission visited Ankara on 26 and 27 April 2016 for discussions with the competent authorities (the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior, the Undersecretariat of Public Order and Security, the Constitutional Court) and representatives of the political parties and civil society.

The present opinion was prepared on the basis of the contributions of the rapporteurs; it was discussed at the meeting of the Sub-Commission on fundamental rights on 9 June 2016 and was subsequently adopted by the Venice Commission at its 107th Plenary Session (Venice, 10-11 June 2016).